North America Distribution

Facts About

Dwarf burhead is a globally rare aquatic annual, with a range that includes parts of North, Central and South America. It has been found in New England in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Conservation plans include attempted reintroductions to sites where it was formerly present.

Habitat

Shores of rivers or lakes, wetland margins (edges of wetlands)

Characteristics

Habitat

wetlands

New England state

Connecticut

Massachusetts

Leaf arrangement

the leaves are growing only at the base of the plant (basal)

Leaf blade shape

the leaf blade is lanceolate (lance-shaped; widest below the middle and tapering at both ends)

the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)

the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

Leaf blade length

10–74 mm

Flower petal color

pink to red

white

Flower petal length

1–3 mm

Petal fusion

the perianth parts are separate

Inflorescence type

the inflorescence is an umbel (with an axis so short it appears the flowers all originate from the same point)

Ovary position

the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

Fruit type (specific)

the fruit is an achene (dry, usually 1-seeded, does not separate or split open at maturity)

Family

Genus

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Information from Dichotomous Key of Flora Novae Angliae

1. Helanthium tenellum
(Mart.) Britt.
NC

dwarf burhead.
Alisma tenellum Mart.;
Echinodorus parvulus Engelm.;
E. tenellus (Mart.) Buch.;
E. tenellus (Mart.) Buch. var.
parvulus (Engelm.) Fassett;
Helanthium parvulum (Engelm.) Small
•
CT, MA; also reported from
ME by Perkins (1936) and from
VT by Haynes and Hellquist (2000a), but specimens are unknown. Sandy shorelines of ponds and streams. The report from
ME by Perkins was eventually retracted (1938), but the retraction was apparently not based on annotation of the original specimens but rather on an inability to find additional specimens (which could indicate the population was extirpated, not that the original collections were incorrectly determined).